Document filing rack

ABSTRACT

A document filing rack comprising a plurality of wall forming elements built together into a unit so as to form a plurality of compartments having top and bottom walls and inclined side walls, each compartment being accessible for insertion of documents from at least one side in a direction parallel to all of said walls and each bottom wall being substantially perpendicular to the adjacent side walls.

United States Patent 1 91 1111 3,887,076

Larsen 1 June 3, 1975 [54] DOCUMENT FILING RACK 1,966,555 7/1934 beFebure 211/10 I761 Inventor: s Teslvaerksvei 5:333:16? 3113121331531111... 351 1111 22, 314-4450 Jydemp, Denmark 2,902,166 9/1959Bahr 211/11 A l. N .1340 676 [21] pp 0 Primary Examiner-Ramon S. Britts[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 15. 1972 Denmark 1208/72BSTRACT A document filing rack comprising a plurality of wall formingelements built together into a unit so as to form a plurality ofcompartments having top and bottom walls and inclined side walls, eachcompartment being accessible for insertion of documents from at leastone side in a direction parallel to all of said walls and each bottomwall being substantially perpendicu- [52] US. Cl 211/10; 211/50 [51]Int. Cl. A471 5/00; B42f 17/00 [58] Field of Search 211/10, 11, 55, 128,50, 211/133, 130, 132, 40; 312/198, 117, 126,

[56] References Cited 1 t th d t (1 1| UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 a lace es 380,960 4/1888 Walker 312/1 ll X 3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures DOCUMENTFILING RACK Booklets, periodicals, papers, pamphlets, single sheets ofpaper and similar information carriers, in the following describedjointly as documents, cannot stand upright unless they are supported onboth sides. If documents are stacked it will be difficult to extract asingle sheet without causing disorder to the rest, and likewise it willbe difficult to insert a document in its proper place in a stack.

This invention relates to a document filing rack which comprises aplurality of wall-forming elements built together into a unit so as toform a plurality of compartments of rectangular cross-section anddisposed in side-by-side relationship, and it has been the aim toprovide a filing rack in which documents can be filed in an orderlymanner and so that single documents can be readily withdrawn andre-filed.

This aim has been accomplished by providing the rack with inclined sidewalls, since documents leaning against a suitably inclined support faceand supported on a base perpendicular to the support face will not turnover, bend or get creased. Even single sheets may be deposited alone orbetween other documents without difficulty. When the support face formsa suitable angle to the vertical plane, which, is an angle of from to30, preferably about the documents of a stack will abut on each otherwith so little weight that a single paper can readily be withdrawn fromor inserted between the others. Also thick books and letter files may bestored in this filing rack without risk of being pulled awry. The filingrack is also well suited for the storing of gramophone records.

A very simple and cheap embodiment of the filing rack comprises twostepped plates joined together by partition walls, and a constructionwhere one or more recesses are provided in each of the lower cornerregions and the partition walls are formed by plates provided withprojections extending into the said recesses and abutting on one side ofa step makes it possible to dismantle the rack so that the requirementof space during storage and shipment has been substantially reduced. Thedismantling and assembly of the rack can be performed without the use oftools. Increased rigid ity of the disconnectable structure has beenobtained by bending the extreme end of each projection to a right angleto form a flange abutting on the side of an adjacent step.

In an embodiment of the document filing rack built op of identical platesections the sections are bent to Z-shape and detachably securedtogether. This construction makes it possible to stack the dismantledsections in a very compact form. A very simple manner of coupling thesections together without the use of tools has been achieved byproviding the extreme end of each Z-shaped plate section with one ormore outwardly directed webs bent to right angles and providing thecentral wall adjacent to each end on the surface facing away from theadjacent end plate with one or more pockets for receiving the web orwebs of a neigh bouring section, and by forming the web or webs asprojections on a narrow end strip bent at right angles to each end platethe rigidity of the structure is further increased. A particularlysimple construction has been obtained by forming the pockets by punchingand stamping strips of the central wall material and by making the endsections L-shaped.

To impart still further rigidity to the rack may be introduced astiffening element adapted to be secured on one side of the rack so asto extend along the longest diagonal of the parallelogram formed by therack. This element can be transferred from one side of the rack to theother so that the support plates may be inclined to the left or to theright as desired.

By disposing the uppermost corner of each compartment substantiallyvertically above the diametrically opposed lowermost corner of the samecompartment it has been made possible to superimpose a plurality ofracks without shifting the projection of the geometrical point ofgravity on the horizontal support surface.

The invention will be explained here in greater detail and withreference to the drawing, in which FIG. 1 presents a perspective rearview of an embodiment of the document filing rack according to theinvention,

FIGS. 2a, 2b and 2c show on a larger scale vertical sections throughvarious parts of another embodiment of the document filing rackaccording to the invention,

FIG. 3 shows in perspective a third embodiment of the document filingrack according to the invention in which the intermediate section and anend section have been drawn apart from the other sections,

FIG. 4 shows on a larger scale the part of a plate section encircled bythe dotted line in FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a larger filing rack arrangementcomprising superimposed rows of compartments.

The document filing rack shown in FIG. 1 consists of two identicalstepped plates 1 and 2 forming respectively the bottom and the top ofthe rack. Each step is formed by a wide plate section 3 andperpendicular thereto a narrow plate section 4. The widths of theseplate sections are so adapted to one another that when the rack isplaced on a horizontal surface resting on the corner edges between theplate sections, the sections form an angle of about 15 to the horizontaland the vertical plane respectively. The bottom member I and the topmember 2 are joined together by a plurality of plates 5 forming sidewalls and partition walls of the filing rack. Each plate 5 is parallelto and in plane engagement with the surface of the narrow side 4 of astep of both the bottom member 1 and the top member 2 and is secured tothe said sides in any suitable manner, for instance by spot welding.

Each pair of step members 3 with the adjoining partition walls 5 thusforms an open compartment, the slight inclination of which makes it verysuitable for storage of documents of every type, including thin andflexible papers such as single sheets, because they are supported by thelower step member 3 and leaning on a partition wall 5, in FIG. I theleft one. Because the support face 3 is disposed at right angles to theside support face 5, also thick books and letter files can be stored inthe rack without being pulled awry.

To stiffen the rack FIG. 1 indicates a diagonal stiffening member 6consisting of a round bar the ends of which have been bent to form hooksto be carried through holes 7 in the side walls 5 and the sides 4 of thesteps at the extreme diagonally opposed corners of the rack. When thisstiffening member has been mounted the filing rack will be accessiblefor insertion and withdrawal of documents from one side only. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 1 the rack is viewed from the rear and thecompartments are inclined towards right.

If they are desired to be inclined towards left the stiffening member 6may simply be transferred to the other side where holes 7 are likewiseprovided for receiving the hooked ends of the bar.

When the proportion between height, width and inclination of theindividual compartments into which the rack is divided is selected sothat the uppermost corner of each compartment is disposed verticallyabove the diametrically opposed lowermost corner of the samecompartment, several racks can be stacked on top of each other withoutgetting outside the vertical defining surfaces through the extremecorner edges of the bottom support. An example of such an arrangement isshown in FIG. 5, where the rack is mounted in a frame 15.

FIGS. 2a, 2b and 2c present sections through various corner regions ofan embodiment of the document filing rack according to the inventionwhich can be dismantled and thus requires less space when stored orshipped. FIG. 2 uses the same designations 3, 4 and for respectively thewide step sections 3, the narrow step sections 4 and the side walls 5 asin FIG. I, and supposing the whole rack to be placed in the same way asin FIG. 1, FIG. 2a will be a vertical section through the left hand topcorner region, FIG. 2b a vertical section through any one of the uppercorner regions of two adjacent compartments and FIG. 20 a verticalsection through the right hand top corner region of the rack.

The left hand side wall 5 shown in FIG. 2a is provided with two or morewide projections 8 extending upwards from the upper edge 9 of the wallthrough corresponding recesses 10 in the step section 3 at the extremeend thereof and adjacent to the narrow step section 4. To retain theprojections 8 in plane engagement with the step section 4 the latter isprovided with a hooked extension the end portion 11 of which extendsparallel to the step section 4 and is spaced therefrom by a distancewhich is but slightly greater than the thickness of the side wall 5.Thus the side wall 5 has been fixed in a position relatively to theupper step section 3 which is substantially perpendicular thereto.

Similarly the right hand side wall 5 has been fixed relatively to theright hand top step 3 as shown in FIG. 2c by providing the outermoststep section 4 with an extension ll' defining together with the stepsection 4 a narrow channel for receiving projections 8 on the side wall5 which extend into holes 10' in the bottom of the channel.

Also the inner partition walls, here designated 5', are provided withprojections 12 extending upwards from the upper edge 9' through recesses13 in the corner region between the adjoining step sections 3 and 4.Because the extension of the recess 13 into the step section 3 is butslightly greater than the thickness of the partition wall 5', theprojections 12 will be held in plane engagement with the step section 4and thus contribute to stiffening the whole rack against its innatetendency to collaps caused by the inclination. The stiffening effect hasbeen further improved by the bending of the extreme ends 14 of theprojections 12 to right angles and into engagement with the step section3.

At their lower ends the side walls 5 and the partition walls 5' areconnected to the base plate 1 in the same way as shown and describedabove in respect of the upper ends. Thus the whole document filing rackcan be dismantled and reassembled without the use of any toolswhatsoever.

The embodiment of the filing rack according to the invention illustratedby FIG. 3 is composed of a plurality of intermediate sections 16comprising plates bent to Z-shape and two end sections 17 consisting ofplates bent to L-shape. Each intermediate section 16 consists of acentral wall 18 and perpendicular thereto two end plates 19. The endstrip 20 of each end plate 19 is pro vided with two projecting webs 21and bent outwardly to a right angle and thus extends in a plane parallelto the central wall 18. Adjacent to each end edge the central wall 18 isprovided with two pockets 22 for receiving the webs 21 of neighbouringsections. A single pocket is shown on an enlarged scale in FIG. 4. Sucha pocket can be made by means of a punching and stamping tool cutting astrip of material free of the wall 18 along the side edges and pressingthe central portion of the strip outwards from the wall to a distanceslightly greater than twice the plate thickness. The pockets 22 faceaway from the adjacent end plate 19.

The end sections 17 differ from the intermediate sections 16 only inthat they have but one end plate 19 and but one set of pockets 22disposed at the free edge of the end plate.

The document filing rack according to the invention may be formed inmany other ways than illustrated in the drawing and described above. Forinstance may wire netting be substituted for plates as wall-formingelements.

What I claim is:

l. A document filing rack comprising a plurality of wall-formingelements including end elements assembled as a unit so as to form aplurality of box shaped compartments having inclined side walls and topand bottom walls extending substantially perpendicularly thereto, eachof said elements except said end elements consisting of a plate bentgenerally to Z-shape having a central portion and two end portionsextending perpendicularly thereto in opposite directions, each of saidend portions being provided at its free edge with one or moreturned-out, deformable flaps defining projections thereon which are inengagement with pockets formed in or provided on the central portion ofan adjacent element a short distance from one end thereof and on thesurface facing away from the adjacent end portion, said turned-out flapsbeing bent at substantially right angles to said end portions, each ofsaid end elements being L-shaped and including a central wall havingflap receiving pockets adjacent a free edge thereof extendingperpendicularly to said central wall, the end portions on said endelements having bent flaps engaging the pockets of the adjacentelements, the uppermost corner of each document compartment beingdisposed substantially vertically above the diametrically opposedlowermost corner of the same compartment.

2. A document filing rack according to claim 1, characterized in thatthe pockets are formed by punching and stamping strips of the centralportion.

3. A document filing rack according to claim 1, characterized in thatthe side walls of the compartments form an angle of from l0 to 30,preferably about 15,

with respect to the vertical plane.

1. A document filing rack comprising a plurality of wall-formingelements including end elements assembled as a unit so as to form aplurality of box shaped compartments having inclined side walls and topand bottom walls extending substantially perpendicularly thereto, eachof said elements except said end elements consisting of a plate bentgenerally to Z-shape having a central portion and two end portionsextending perpendicularly thereto in opposite directions, each of saidend portions being provided at its free edge with one or moreturned-out, deformable flaps defining projections thereon which are inengagement with pockets formed in or provided on the central portion ofan adjacent element a short distance from one end thereof and on thesurface facing away from the adjacent end portion, said turned-out flapsbeing bent at substantially right angles to said end portions, each ofsaid end elements being L-shaped and including a central wall havingflap receiving pockets adjacent a free edge thereof extendingperpendicularly to said central wall, the end portions on said endelements having bent flaps engaging the pockets of the adjacentelements, the uppermost corner of each document compartment beingdisposed substantially vertically above the diametrically opposedlowermost corner of the same compartment.
 1. A document filing rackcomprising a plurality of wall-forming elements including end elementsassembled as a unit so as to form a plurality of box shaped compartmentshaving inclined side walls and top and bottom walls extendingsubstantially perpendicularly thereto, each of said elements except saidend elements consisting of a plate bent generally to Z-shape having acentral portion and two end portions extending perpendicularly theretoin opposite directions, each of said end portions being provided at itsfree edge with one or more turned-out, deformable flaps definingprojections thereon which are in engagement with pockets formed in orprovided on the central portion of an adjacent element a short distancefrom one end thereof and on the surface facing away from the adjacentend portion, said turned-out flaps being bent at substantially rightangles to said end portions, each of said end elements being L-shapedand including a central wall having flap receiving pockets adjacent afree edge thereof extending perpendicularly to said central wall, theend portions on said end elements having bent flaps engaging the pocketsof the adjacent elements, the uppermost corner of each documentcompartment being disposed substantially vertically above thediametrically opposed lowermost corner of the same compartment.
 2. Adocument filing rack according to claim 1, characterized in that thepockets are formed by punching and stamping strips of the centralportion.